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July 23rd, 2024: The Irish Film Institute (IFI) is delighted to announce the IFI Family Festival 2024, this year running in-cinema from Friday, August 23rd to Sunday, August 25th. This year’s festival includes a mix of short and feature films from across the globe, from The Netherlands to South Korea, with an extra-special shorts programme celebrating Brown Bag Films’s 30th Birthday. Tickets are on sale now from www.ifi.ie/familyfest.
The festival opens on Friday 23rd with hilarious animated feature Fox & Hare Save the Forest, suitable for those aged 4+ and directed by Mascha Halberstad, in which best friends Fox and Hare set out to find their pal Owl, and also prevent a lake from overflowing and flooding the forest. Before the opening film, IFI Education will host an event in the IFI Foyer from 17.15, including some fun, hare-raising activities with artist Orla Mellon, RTÉ Kids Presenters, and the Irish Wildlife Trust.
Speaking about this year’s festival, IFI’s Head of Education Alicia McGivern said, “This year’s festival has something for all young viewers, from the first time cinema goer, to the older manga fan. A highlight is Berlinale Generation KPlus Crystal Bear winner, It’s Okay!, which blends traditional Korean drumming and dancing with a truly heartfelt story of resilience. Enjoy the last of the summer weekends with some real film fun.”
Screening on Saturday 24th are the popular short film programmes – Short Tales 1 at 11.00 and 11.05 features a variety of mostly dialogue-free shorts suitable for children aged 4+, including German short Master Painter Ernst, while Short Tales 2 at 13.00 allows children aged 8+ to dive into gorgeous live action and animation, featuring titles such as Irish short Scrumpy. The 11.05 screening of Short Tales 1 will be a relaxed screening, in association with As I Am, Ireland’s Autism Charity.
Animated adaptation Kensuke’s Kingdom, directed by Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry and featuring the voice-acting talents of Cillian Murphy, Sally Hawkins, and Ken Watanabe, screens on Saturday 24th at 15.30. Adapted from the book of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, it centres on a schoolboy who finds himself shipwrecked on a desert island, with only his dog Stella and an old Japanese soldier for company. Before and after the screening, join us for some greenscreen fun and show off your desert island essential items!
Kim Hye-young’s heartfelt coming-of-age drama It’s Okay!, suitable for audiences age 10 and up, screening on Saturday 24th at 18.00, follows a young dance student as she is taken in by her perfectionist school choreographer after the loss of her mother, and the two develop a friendship, and come to terms with what life has thrown at them together.
On Sunday 28th, Brown Bag Films joins the IFI Family Festival for a very special, fun-filled celebration of their 30th anniversary, suitable for ages 6+, and screening at 11.00. The programme features their Oscar®-nominated short animations Give Up Yer Aul Sins and Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty, alongside episodes of favourite shows Karma’s World, Lu & The Bally Bunch, and Dee & Friends in Oz, and is followed by a Meet the Animators session.
German live-action feature Greetings from Mars screens on Sunday 28th at 13.30, and is suitable for film fans aged 8+. The film follows Tom, a little boy who finds change difficult and whose biggest dream is to go on a mission to Mars, adjust to living with his grandparents with the help of a logbook gifted by his mother to help prepare for his future missions to the Red Planet.
Closing the festival on Sunday 28th at 16.15 is The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store, also suitable for those 8+, an animated adaptation of an award-winning manga series which sees Akino, the new concierge-in-training at the upmarket shop, learn to serve the range of extinct animals who shop there.
FULL SCHEDULE IFI FAMILY FESTIVAL AUGUST 23RD – 25TH
Friday, August 23rd, 17.15 – Opening Event Friday, August 23rd, 18.30 – Fox & Hare Save the Forest (4+) Saturday, August 24th, 11.00 + 11.05 (relaxed screening) – Shorts 1 (4+) Saturday, August 24th, 13.00 – Shorts 2 (8+) Saturday, August 24th, 15.30 – Kensuke’s Kingdom (IFCO Rating: PG) Saturday, August 24th, 18.00 – It’s Okay! (10+) Sunday, August 25th, 11.00 – Brown Bag Films Celebrate 30 Years! (6+) Sunday, August 25th, 13.30 – Greetings from Mars (8+) Sunday, August 25th, 16.15 – The Concierge at Hokkyoku Department Store (8+)
Tickets are on sale now from www.ifi.ie/familyfest/, at the IFI Box Office, and over the phone at (01) 679 3477.
Tickets cost €7.00 each. Family tickets (2 adults, 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children) cost €23.00.
For more information and high-res images, contact Casey Hynes at the IFI Press Office on chynes@irishfilm.ie.
IFI is principally funded by the Arts Council.
AMERICAN INDEPENDENTS: CLERKS 18.20
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME: BRITISH & IRISH (PROGRAMME 1) 12.50 12.50
CROSSING 13.00, 18.10
HEART OF AN OAK 13.10
LA CHIMERA 15.45
SHAYDA 15.30, 20.30
SLEEP 13.40
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 20.50
THE COMMANDANT’S SHADOW 18.30
THE CONVERSATION 50TH ANNIVERSARY 4K RESTORATION 20.40
The IFI is supported by The Arts Council
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